the story gains legs

A few weeks ago, it was a non-story. “More of the same!” the White House said. “Just another liberal attack!” They dismissed it, but it wouldn’t go away. A congressman got a letter together demanding an explanation. Bloggers started to push the story hard. But the dismissals continued. This guy on Crossfire said “We had an election on this in November, and the President was reelected, so who cares?” On this old CC post, one reader said it was “revisionist history” and claimed that since it was from the British, so “who could trust it anyway?” (eliciting a long, hilarious and strange response) But unfortunately for all of those people, the story has gained legs, because it is not more of the same, it is not British intelligence (it’s the summary of a meeting) and it is not going away. Like the war or not, a lot of us want a damn explanation.

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3 responses to “the story gains legs”

This is one of the rare cases where I felt compelled to write to my three Congressional representatives asking them to take action. I don’t know how much effect (if any) my words will have, but I figure I should do something to live up to my espoused ideals of an involved citizenry (i.e. democracy is about more than just voting, and all that nonsense). I mean, if we have the time to post diatribes on blogs, we can probably spare a few keystrokes to try to participate in government.

In the interest of friendly sharing, here’s what I wrote to my reps:

Dear [ ],

I am writing to urge you to join with fellow Congressional Representatives in asking President Bush to address the Downing Street Memo which appears to implicate the Bush administration in misleading the people of the United States regarding the necessity of overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

As a young citizen, I am very concerned that a failure now to investigate the real terms under which this war began, and the possibility that a President deliberately overstated a foreign threat in order to convince the public that the decision to go to war was a last resort, will set a chilling and debilitating precedent for my generation as we attempt to hold our government accountable for its rhetoric and actions. Congressional inaction regarding the Downing Street Memo will only confirm for young Americans like me our virtual powerlessness in the political sphere, even in the issues most pressing for people our age, as so many young Americans continue to risk their lives for a cause whose justifiability is now even more questionable.

* * *

If anyone knows of a more effective way of taking action on this issue (I seriously doubt my notes are going to make a bit of difference), please let me and other interested parties know!

What a coincidence! More than one person is interested in this same topic. — A BORING coincidence!

Isn’t it DREARY how people work themselves into a lather over the SAME things over and over? And half the time it’s a simple uncontroversial fact they’re worked up about, which is boring, because how are we supposed to pretend that they’re wrong?

In any case, I would never use lather when whitewash would do just as well.